1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an electric shaver and more particularly to an electric shaver equipped with outer cutters which have shaving surfaces having hair introduction openings therein.
2. Prior Art
In electric shavers, hair is introduced into outer cutters in which hair introduction openings are formed, and the hair that has been introduced into the areas inside the outer cutters is cut by inner cutters disposed inside the outer cutters.
“Hair” includes hair that is in an upright attitude and hair that is in a horizontal attitude. Hair that is in an upright attitude is easily introduced into the hair introduction openings, while hair that is in a horizontal attitude is difficult to introduce into the hair introduction openings; accordingly, hair in a horizontal attitude is a cause of residual shaving stubble. Conventionally, an electric shaver of the type shown in FIG. 13 has been proposed in order to solve this problem.
The electric shaver 100 shown in FIG. 13(a) is a rotary type electric shaver, and it comprises outer cutters 12, which have shaving surfaces 14 protruding from circular holes 23a formed in a cutter frame 23, and inner cutters 18, which are formed with a plurality of inner cutter bodies 16 that rotate while making sliding contact with the inside surfaces of the shaving surfaces 14.
The shaving surface 14 of each one of the outer cutters 12 installed in the electric shaver 100 is formed in a ring-form shape, and a plurality of slit-form hair introduction openings 15 that extend in the radial direction are formed in the shaving surface 14. In this outer cutter 12, outer circumference side corner slits 15a, which are formed in outside wall 12b disposed on the outer circumference side of the shaving surface 14, and inner circumference side corner slits 15b, which are formed in inside wall 34 disposed on the inner circumference side of the shaving surface 14, are disposed so that the respective corner slits communicate with the hair introduction openings 15.
As a result of the formation of the above-described outer circumference side corner slits 15a and inner circumference side corner slits 15b in each outer cutter 12, hair 50 that is in a horizontal attitude is efficiently introduced into the hair introduction openings 15. More specifically, when the shaving surface 14 is placed against the skin and moved along the skin, the root portion of hair 50 that is in a horizontal attitude enters the outer circumference side corner slits 15a and are introduced along the hair introduction openings 15 that extend rectilinearly, so that the hair is cut by the shaving surface 14 and the inner cutter bodies 16 (see FIG. 13(b)).
However, in cases where hair 50 that is in a horizontal attitude are introduced through the outer circumference side corner slits 15a and cut, the hair 50 that is in a horizontal attitude is introduced toward the centers of the hair introduction openings 15 while still in an inclined state (as seen from FIG. 13(b)); consequently, the hair is not cut as close to the root portion of the hair as it is in cases where hair in an upright attitude is cut, so that long portion of the hair remains.
Furthermore, other problems arise. When the electric shaver 100 constructed as described above is used on soft portions of the skin, there is a danger that the skin will be injured (i.e., that so-called shaver burn will occur). This shaver burn occurs in a manner that when the shaving surface 14 is placed against soft portions of the skin and moved along the skin, the soft skin intrudes into the areas inside the shaving surface 14 via the outer circumference side corner slits 15a or inner circumference side corner slits 15b of each outer cutter 12 and further slides along the shaving surface 14, so that the skin reaches the sliding positions of the inner cutter bodies 16 while still in this intruding state, thus causing the skin to be injured by the inner cutter bodies 16.